What's flight mode?

Applies to Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1

Flight mode is a setting that gives you a quick way to turn off all wireless communication on your PC. As the name implies, it's especially useful when you’re flying. Wireless communication includes WiFi, mobile broadband, Bluetooth, GPS or GNSS, near field communication (NFC) and all other types of wireless communication.

Note

Even if your PC has a hardware switch for flight mode, we recommend using the following steps instead. Some hardware switches might turn off your wireless connection in a way that lets certain apps turn the connection back on without telling you.

To turn flight mode on or off

View a list of available networks by swiping in from the right edge of the screen, tapping Settings (or if you're using a mouse, pointing to the upper-right corner of the screen, moving the mouse pointer down, and then clicking Settings), and then tapping or clicking the network icon ( or ).

Under Flight mode, tap or click the control to turn it on or off.

Note

When flight mode is turned on, you'll see an aeroplane icon () in the notification area of your desktop.

To turn on individual wireless devices while flight mode is on

When flight mode is on, you can still turn on individual devices. Here's how:

Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, tap Settings, then tap Change PC settings.(If you're using a mouse, point to the top-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer down, click Settings, then click Change PC settings.)

Tap or click Network, then tap or click Flight mode.

Under Wireless devices, tap or click the devices you want to turn on.

What if my wireless devices don’t turn on or off correctly?

After you tap or click the toggle to turn Flight mode on or off, it can take your PC a few seconds to turn each wireless device on or off. If you toggle Flight mode on and off too quickly, or if you turn on Flight mode and then put your PC to sleep before your PC can turn your wireless devices on or off, your wireless device settings might get out of sync with the Flight mode setting.

To turn on or off any of your wireless devices and sync with them Flight mode, follow these instructions.

Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, tap Settings, then tap Change PC settings.(If you're using a mouse, point to the top-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer down, click Settings, then click Change PC settings.)

Tap or click Network, then tap or click Flight mode.

Under Wireless devices, turn on or off any wireless devices that don’t match your Flight mode setting.

Warning

If you use an app that can turn on wireless devices while Flight mode is on, your wireless devices could be turned on without you being notified.